


i've got these little things, she's got you

by azurill



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, just dina being jealous that's it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22691533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurill/pseuds/azurill
Summary: Dina's not used to sharing Ellie.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 273





	i've got these little things, she's got you

Kat never shuts up, Ellie looks at her like she makes the sun rise up every morning and there's an entire horde of clickers uselessly clawing the metal container they're on top of, grasping, searching, clicking.

"Bullshit."

"No, seriously," Kat touches Ellie's arm with just the right amount of softness to stir something ugly inside Dina's ribcage. She can’t make out what she’s saying, not when Ellie is giving Kat one of these smiles that used to be meant for her and only her. And that's just _one_ little thing that isn't just for Dina anymore among countless others.

Dina wonders if they’ve done more when she wasn’t looking. She wonders if Kat held Ellie close overnight, pressed a subtle, soft kiss to the nape of her neck before falling back asleep again as she did. Hell, maybe she’s even done more, but Dina doesn’t want to think about _that_. She does the same, sometimes, with people who aren’t Ellie. She has no right to complain, really.

"You’re so quiet today."

Dina snaps back to reality, suddenly aware that she was looking at absolutely nothing for God knows how long. Kat's dark eyes are staring straight at her, like she’s crystal clear.

"I'm just thinking."

Ellie widens her eyes in mock surprise. "You _think?_ You sure you can do that?"

“Anyway, I was saying there's gonna be a party tonight.“

Kat looks a lot like she doesn't want Dina to accept her invitation. It’s probably all in her head, so aware that her presence is not in Kat’s best interest that she took her innocent words the wrong way. She doesn't like her, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Ellie. It has nothing to do with her best friend leaning her head on Kat's shoulder, playfully tugging at her hands.

“You coming?”

A clicker reaches too close to her ankles and Dina retreats her body closer to the wall.

“You’re so confident we’re not gonna die before we can get to that party. We can distract them and run. Or stay here for a patrol team we’re not even sure will come.”

“We’re not dying,” Kat answers, a little offended at the suggestion. “And that’s a bad move.”

Ellie’s eyes never really left her own hands, intertwined between Kat’s fingers even as she speaks. “Two against one. We’re waiting.”

Dina puffs her cheeks as she lets out a sigh that fully depletes her lungs of air. She's on the edge all day and she's surely going to regret whatever she says, but Kat looking at Ellie and Ellie looking at Kat, one worse than the other, is starting to get on her nerves. “Okay. Then can you _please_ stop eating each other out in front of me?”

“Hmm. Don’t think I will. That’s what you get for torturing me all these years.”

“We broke up. Just saying."

“You’re getting back together.”

Dina pretends to be very interested in a burned down house somewhere in the distance. “Not this time, El.”

“That’s what you always — there!” Ellie exclaims as loud as she can without alarming a few clickers in the vicinity, frantically waving to a passing patrol team. "Oh my God. Finally."

Kat turns to Dina with a smug smile on her face. "See? I told you they were coming."

Dina knows what she's going to tell her mother when she asks her if she had a good day.

A resounding _no_.

-

It was just a harmless crush. Or rather, it was supposed to be harmless. But when Ellie finally confirms what Dina already knew — that she and Kat were a thing — pain blooms inside her chest and spreads all the way down to her fingertips, demanding to be felt. Dina knows jealousy when she feels it. What she doesn’t know is why the thought of Ellie with someone else makes her so… so _mad_.

The thought materializes right in front of her, with Kat pressing a quick peck to Ellie’s cheek, wearing a jacket that she’s sure belongs to Ellie and not her. Dina takes that as her cue to find Jesse and distract her mind out of what she just witnessed. Turns out Ellie was right and they did get back together. If she doesn’t get back together with Jesse then she’s alone and it’s way less painful to pretend to be happy than it is to not be touched.

Jesse grows more boring by the day and not even his kisses makes her heart flutter like it used to. What matters is that it feels good — she _needs_ something good, as fake as it may be — and later, alone in her bedroom, with another fight to add to their growing pile of arguments, she thinks about how different things would be if she had done something. If she had held Ellie’s hands for a little longer or kissed her when they were lying on the floor listening to music, never blaming her inexistent drunkenness for her actions.

She loses sleep over the moments that never happened between them and the ones that could have happened hadn’t she been so fucking stupid. Dina foolishly believed that Ellie would be around for as much time as she needed to gather up some courage.

It didn’t occur to her Ellie would be out of her grasp so soon.

-

“What’s on your mind?”

Dina picks fuzz off Jesse’s sweater in monotone, almost lifeless motions. “Do you think Ellie’s okay? That’s the first time she went patrolling without us.”

“I’m sure she’s fine. We shouldn’t be worried about patrol —”

“—She’s my best friend! I’m allowed to be worried.”

There's something right at the tip of his tongue that he holds back in the last minute before he relaxes back in the couch, stroking Dina’s back. “I’m sorry,” he pauses for a second, “Sometimes I wish you would talk about me as much as you talk about her.”

“Does it matter? I’m with you. She's out there. In the rain, may I add.”

“It does.”

Jesse's hands settle on her hips and she imagines how much softer Ellie's hands would feel on her body. If she closes her eyes and uses her creativity just enough, that's exactly how it feels.

-

_Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen…_

“I’ll see you tonight?”

_Twelve…_

One glance out the window. Kat close to Ellie, a smile on both of their faces and a laugh leaving Ellie’s lips when Kat says something that must be particularly funny. Dina's not laughing. In fact, she might end up crying if she watches them for one second more.

_Okay. Where did I stop? Fuck. One, two, three..._

The door opens with a gust of wind and Ellie's familiar steps approach her. 

“Hey."

_Seven, eight, nine…_

"Dina."

She turns to face Ellie at one more mention of her name. The tattoo on Ellie's sleeve is insanely attractive and it’s hard to not feel a little sad that Kat came up with something that fit her so well. 

“You’re gonna make me lose count. What is it?”

“Nothing. You’re just... just acting weird, is all.” Ellie shrugs. “I don’t know. Kat thinks you’re jealous.”

“Maybe I am,” Dina almost burns a hole into the metal cans she was counting. She decides, mid-way through the silence that permeates the cramped storage room, that she should have kept her mouth shut instead. “Doesn’t matter. You have _places_ to be, so let’s finish this quick.”

“You don’t sound happy.”

“One,” Dina starts counting loudly. “Two…”

Ellie takes the metal cans away from her grasp, the blue-inked pen on Dina's hands dropping to the floor. “What the fuck is your problem?”

Her heart beats dangerously in her chest, terrified of what Ellie is going to bring out of her if she pries any further. She opens her mouth to say something when Ellie cuts her off.

“That's not — that's not what best friends do, Dina. You don't push them away. If I recall right, I never treated you like shit when you were spending all your fucking time with Jesse!”

Dina’s tongue seems glued to the roof of her mouth, unable to form any coherent words.

“What do you want from me? Cause I’ve been trying and —”

She loves it when Ellie gets angry — she loves it a _lot_ , the way her green eyes burn with intensity, a certain brashness around her that reminds Dina way too much of things that should never be thought of in public — and her gaze drops down to Ellie's lips before she can stop herself. Ellie stops mid-rant, her breaths noticeably picking up speed as she pants, catching her breath; the energy in the room shifts from thick and uncomfortable to something entirely different, but just as heavy.

A loud bang comes from outside and they jump like they were caught doing something wrong, staring in the direction of the sound.

“We need you at the gates right now. Both of you.”

-

They make up quickly as they always do but the thought of kissing Ellie that day — _would Ellie kiss her back?_ — looms over her head, like an invisible cloud that follows her through the day. Dina knows one thing for sure, after replaying the same events over and over in her head until there was nothing to process anymore: whatever it was she felt, it couldn't be described as a crush. 

The relationship between Ellie and Kat didn't last for more than a few months, although they ended up on good terms. The same can’t be said for her and Jesse, but Dina likes to think that certain things not working out means _other_ things are about to start working out. 

As she gets ready for the night, having somehow convinced Ellie to show up at the party, Dina knows what she's going to do.

She's going to find that girl and she's going to kiss the fuck out of her.

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to jeryl. heard ur gay get well soon


End file.
